Sunday, October 29, 2006

"Muslims are the new Jews" Slammed

This opinion piece in The Telegraph is worth a read if you have 5 minutes spare. Nigel Farndale writes a good piece asking for a reality check. The article centres on Ken Livingstone's comments to the effect that Muslims face similar ordeals to Jews in Nazi Germany; a claim that is completely untrue (see here).

A few nice quotes:

Think book burning and you think Nazis and Islamic fundamentalists, creeds which, in terms of their anti-Semitism, are not that far apart.....

There is no comparison [between Muslims now and Jews in the Nazi era]. Jews posed no threat at all to German society in the 1930s. They were peaceful, law-abiding people, which made them ideal scapegoats and targets for Nazi propaganda. The "Jewish threat" was just a useful fiction dreamed up by Hitler and Goebbels.

But there is nothing fictional about British Islamofascists such as Anjem Choudary and Abu Izzadeen, extremists who praise the 7/7 bombers and call for the abolition of democracy in Britain and the introduction of Sharia law. I expect they have burnt a few Salman Rushdie novels in their time, too. If anyone, it is they who should be compared to Hitler and Goebbels.

And a powerful conclusion:
I know this "Muslims are the new Jews" line has become fashionable among the commentariat in London in recent weeks but really, enough is enough. Time for a reality check. Time for a new mayor as well. The current one seems to have gone mad.